Cloud & Infrastructure Platform Consultant

Sword is a leading provider of business technology solutions within the Energy, Public and Finance Sectors, driving real transformation change within our clients. We use proven technology, specialist teams and domain expertise to build solid technical foundations across platforms, data and business applications. We have a passion for using technology to solve business problems, working in partnership with our clients to help in achieving their goals.

To support significant M&A and Integration projects across a range of domain sectors, this ongoing contract opportunity will operate across private cloud, public cloud, and physical infrastructure environments. A technical leadership role with a strong consultative dimension, you will work directly with senior stakeholders to deliver best in-class technology outcomes.

• Lead the strategy, design, and delivery of platforms and infrastructure across private cloud, public cloud, physical infrastructure, and hybrid environments.
• Drive platform and infrastructure integration across acquisitions.
• Standardise estates, reduce complexity, and accelerate onboarding of new businesses.
• Define guardrails covering security, compliance, cost management, and operational resilience within regulated environments.
• Act as the technical authority across cloud architecture, core infrastructure, automation, and platform services.
• Set direction and ensure consistency across delivery teams.
• Lead the assessment, integration, and rationalisation of inherited infrastructure environments, including compute, storage, hosting, and virtualisation platforms.
• Engage stakeholders across business and technology functions.
• Translate commercial and operational goals into structured integration roadmaps.
• Establish repeatable integration patterns that enable future acquisitions to be onboarded with speed and control.
• Build and lead platform and infrastructure capability across internal teams and delivery partners.
• Deliver measurable outcomes, including reducing time-to-integration for newly acquired businesses through standardised platform and infrastructure onboarding and integration patterns.

• Strong experience designing and delivering platforms across private cloud, public cloud, and physical infrastructure technologies such as Azure, AWS, VMware or equivalent.
• Broad infrastructure knowledge spanning compute, storage, hosting, virtualisation, and core platform services.
• Experience in highly regulated sectors such as financial services, insurance, or professional services, with a clear understanding of compliance, risk, and security considerations.
• Experience supporting mergers and acquisitions or large-scale integration programmes.
• Comfortable dealing with fragmented or inherited technology estates.
• Proven ability to operate at both a deep technical level and with senior stakeholders.
• Able to influence decisions and provide clear direction.
• Experience defining governance frameworks across cloud and infrastructure environments, including cost control, operational standards, and security guardrails.
• Strong consultative approach.
• Able to challenge stakeholders constructively and shape outcomes rather than simply deliver requirements.
• Commercial awareness.
• Understand how technical decisions impact cost, risk, and integration timelines.
• Comfortable working in ambiguity.
• Able to make progress in evolving environments where not everything is defined upfront.

This opportunity is offered on a contract basis and can operate Outside IR35 or a PAYE basis. There will also be the option of a permanent staff role for suitably qualified and experienced candidates.

• Personalised Career Development: We create a development plan customised to your goals and aspirations, with a range of learning and development opportunities within a culture that encourages growth.
• Flexible working: Flexible work arrangements to support your work-life balance.
• A Fantastic Benefits Package: This includes generous annual leave allowance, enhanced family friendly benefits, pension scheme, access to private health, well-being, and insurance schemes.

At Sword we are dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer, ensuring that all applicants receive fair and equal consideration for employment, regardless of whether they meet every requirement. If you don’t tick all the boxes but feel you have some of the relevant skills and experience we’re looking for, please do consider applying and highlight your transferable skills and experience. We embrace diversity in all its forms, valuing individuals regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. Your perspective and potential are important to us. If we can do anything to help make the hiring process more accessible, please let our talent acquisition team know when you apply so we can support any adjustments.